[pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#622821: wpasupplicant: reassociates after disconnect

[Andrew Pimlott]

Package: wpasupplicant
Version: 0.7.3-2
Severity: normal

In the changelog:

  * After a disconnected event, attempt to reassociate to a network
    when using wpa-roam.

If I'm understanding this correctly, I don't see the sense in this.  It
definitely changes the user experience.  Before, in wpa_gui, if I click
"Disconnect", I go off the wireless network and stay off.  Now, I come
right back on, which seems unintuitive.  If I really want to stay off, I
can't do it in wpa_gui, I have to ifdown.  You might argue this is a
better to do it, but I think people might be used to doing a disconnect
(in wpa_gui and other front-ends) to get off the wireless network.

Also, this change breaks /etc/wpa_supplicant/action_wpa.sh.  The
comments in that script indicate an expectation that disconnect implies
disable.  The ifplugd uses this script when it detects an ethernet cable
plugged in.  As a result of this change, both the ethernet and wireless
interfaces stay up and may step on each other.  (Which one gets the
default route?  Also, I am seeing weird DHCP behavior that seems to be
related.)  I'm not saying ifplugd is necessarily doing the right thing,
but it was working before.

Let me know if I'm misunderstanding something.  Here is my wireless
interface configuration in /etc/network/interfaces:

    iface eth1 inet manual
        wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
        wpa-roam-default-iface default-wireless

    iface default-wireless inet dhcp

Andrew

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.38-2-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages wpasupplicant depends on:
ii  adduser                       3.112+nmu2 add and remove users and groups
ii  libc6                         2.11.2-11  Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libdbus-1-3                   1.4.6-1    simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libnl1                        1.1-6      library for dealing with netlink s
ii  libpcsclite1                  1.7.2-1    Middleware to access a smart card 
ii  libreadline6                  6.1-3      GNU readline and history libraries
ii  libssl1.0.0                   1.0.0d-2   SSL shared libraries
ii  lsb-base                      3.2-27     Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip

wpasupplicant recommends no packages.

Versions of packages wpasupplicant suggests:
pn  libengine-pkcs11-openssl      <none>     (no description available)
ii  wpagui                        0.7.3-2    graphical user interface for wpa_s

-- no debconf information